Jake Olivier analyses data for ABC Fact Check

Associate Professor Jake Olivier was recently contacted by ABC's Fact Check to help investigate a claim by Deputy Leader of the National Party, Barnaby Joyce.

Joyce had asserted that the constituents his party represents are worse off than those in other electorates. "Our constituents are the poorest, that's one thing we do know and so we are always looking out for them," Joyce stated.

ABC Fact Check engaged A/Prof Olivier's statistical expertise to investigate the veracity of the claim.

He took Fact Check's scaled analysis of NATSEM's LGA poverty data, placing it into a box plot, which A/Prof Olivier explained produced "a visual display of the general distribution of the proportion in each electorate who are in poverty".

A/Prof Olivier was able to provide Fact Check with a decisive answer based on his analyses.

Does Joyce's claim check out? Read the article to find out!